Winnipeg School Division frowns on fundraisers, wants schools to stop asking parents to pay

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Peggy

The head of Manitoba’s largest school division is asking schools to take a recess on fundraising.

Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, says fundraising can be a barrier for families and also reveal disparities between schools.

A school in a higher-income neighbourhood, for example, might be able to raise money for equipment, like play structures, while one in a lower-income community might not have that same ability, he said.

“Our board of trustees has said that a play structure should come out of the purview of public education, and so, you know, we’ve budgeted to replace four a year and do those upgrades,” Henderson said.

Similarly, electronic equipment or furniture should fall under the purview of public education, he said.

“It’s really about asking principals and communities to think deeply about how we create equitable opportunities across the division, and one way for that is to ensure that those things which are public remain public.”

It’s about ensuring every single child in a school within the division is on a level playing field, he said. Money should not be an impediment to that, he said.

“We really want schools to exhaust their budgets [instead of turning to fundraising]. And we’ve let schools know that we have put some funds aside when they do need a top-up on their budget,” Henderson said.

A man with glasses stands for a photo. — Matt Henderson is the superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division. (Trevor Brine/CBC)

The division began taking a critical look at those financial considerations last year. That has led to other adjustments as well, such as schools being asked to move away from charging for lunch programs or field trips within the city.

“Historically, parent advisory councils have run lunch programs in Winnipeg School Division and charged fees to parents for that. We’ve asked our schools to begin that transition where we [the division] do the supervision,” Henderson said.

Regarding field trips, he said “we really don’t want to keep charging parents and families $8 here, $12 here.”

For more substantive trips, outside the city, that’s different, Henderson said.

“But we would ask schools to ensure that any child who does want to go on a substantial trip has the opportunity, regardless of whether they have the funds or not.”

The WSD also began this year to ask schools to charge a maximum of $40 for school supplies per student, rather than sending home a list of things parents need to buy.

“We have an incredible power in terms of our tendering ability, so we’ve gone to our vendors to sort of say, hey, we’d like, you know, make sure that we have a low-cost school supplies … so that parents don’t have to go to Staples or wherever and spend a lot of money,” Henderson said.

“We have an opportunity here as a division, as communities, as a larger community, to think about the purpose of public education and how we ensure that all 79 of our schools have equitable educative opportunities.”

Strongly encouraged

At this point, none of the changes are mandated, but that could soon change.

“I would say that we’re asking schools to think deeply about it,” Henderson said.

“The board of trustees will be contemplating some policy, but at this point, the overarching ask of schools is to really think about reducing fees … because we know it’s really, really difficult out there right now, and families are struggling, and we want to make sure that we’re not putting an extra burden.”

Asked if he has had any pushback from schools or parent councils unhappy about that direction, Henderson said he has been attending parent advisory council meetings “to listen to the concerns of parents, but also to communicate the vision of the school division.”

“I know that there’ll be people who are happy about this direction, but I also know that there’s some people who have incredible energy and have done fantastic things for their school communities,” he said.

“We really want to capture that, but also, we want to make sure that we’re not creating a system where we have have and have-not schools.”

Henderson acknowledged that schools have been stretched thin with their spending for several years, but some of that can be relieved by re-examining where the money is going, he said.

“We have to look at where we’re putting resources that may not have impact and where we might want to put more resources towards things that have greater impact,” he said.

“We’ve been able to shift some things around to add more to school budgets. But I think long-term, it’s a larger question with the province of Manitoba to … ensure that we maintain public school funding.”

The pause on fundraising is for school-related purposes. It does not include fundraising for charities, Henderson said.

“If there’s fundraising for a cause that is outside of the purview of public education, absolutely. It’s really when we start using fundraising money for things that should be under that umbrella of public education that we’re taking some time to think about critically.”